The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) believes that if Taiwan implements the US’ drone “hellscape” strategy, China would sustain significant military losses with “no chance of victory,” a national security official said yesterday.
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo coined the term “hellscape” in 2024 to describe the strategy, inspired by Ukraine’s use of drones in its war against Russia. It involves saturating the air and waters around Taiwan with thousands of drones that are resistant to jamming and other platforms capable of striking invading forces from multiple domains at once.
The official, who declined to be identified, cited intelligence indicating that the PLA conducted an assessment of Taiwan’s potential deployment of aerial, surface and underwater drones, combined with smart command systems, which would effectively comprise the “hellscape” strategy.
Photo courtesy of the Military News Agency
The official’s remarks came after the Legislative Yuan on Friday passed an opposition-backed special defense budget bill capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.82 billion), significantly lower than the Cabinet’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion package.
The Cabinet’s proposal included funding for uncrewed systems and countermeasures, artificial intelligence-assisted surveillance systems, defense supply chains, domestic defense manufacturing, and joint US-Taiwan research and procurement programs, many of which were excluded from the version passed by lawmakers.
The Cabinet’s proposal had been developed by Taiwan and the US over a considerable period based on urgent Taiwan Strait defense requirements, but the opposition-led cuts would severely affect Taiwan’s military development timetable and had prompted renewed calls from Washington to move forward with the remaining projects, the official said.
“Whether this is why Beijing has recently exhausted every possible means to block the smooth passage of the special defense bill should be self-evident,” they said.
A separate source said the Executive Yuan was considering a new special budget act for drones to bolster critical defense capabilities to prevent major defense spending from crowding out the central government budget and to ensure long-term stability in defense supply chains.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Justin Lin (林沛祥) yesterday rejected implications that its defense budget was the result of the party yielding to Beijing.
While national defense and security are undeniably important, the Executive Yuan painting the opposition as “caving to China” whenever its demands are not fully met is a coercive political tactic that undermines healthy democratic debate, he said.
The KMT supported “reasonable, necessary and combat-effective” defense investments, but would not automatically approve all Executive Yuan proposals, Lin said.
Special budgets should only be used for major and urgent situations and should not become ATMs for the government, he said, adding that his caucus would closely scrutinize all spending to prevent waste or potential corruption.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday said that defense industry spending was a serious matter, but government proposals must convince the public and lawmakers.
Defense programs should not be opportunities for politically connected groups to profit, he added.
TPP caucus whip Jacky Chen (陳清龍) said the legislature had already passed a special military procurement bill and that other military investment could be planned through annual budgets.
The Executive Yuan should respect legislative authority rather than bypass it, he added.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han and Lin Che-yuan
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